


Lover

by Asphyxia



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, I drew a lot for this so it's kinda image-heavy, Illustrated Fic, the one where Catradora gets to dance together again, they get a little hot and heavy but it's still pg-13 I think, they're hopelessly in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:47:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29280210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asphyxia/pseuds/Asphyxia
Summary: Catra, now the Commander of Bright Moon's military, brings her girlfriend along on a diplomatic mission for the first time and takes the opportunity to show her off and to remind her she doesn't always have to present herself as She-ra; sometimes, it's okay just to be there as Catra's lover. It turns out Adora likes it. Really, really likes it.(this is basically an illustrated, unreasonably sappy fic about Catra and Adora figuring out what they want out of their relationship)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 93





	Lover

**Author's Note:**

> Whew, this was a beast to finish because I spent so long editing, re-editing, and drawing fanart for it. Special thanks to my sister for agreeing to beta read this for me, and to my friend Sam for coming up with the names for the two non-canon Etherian kingdoms that are mentioned. You two are my rock and I don't know how I could possibly write without you.
> 
> The overall vibes of this fic are heavily influenced by "Lover" by Taylor Swift, which is also obviously where the title comes from. Catra's POV is a little tough for me to write and so I consulted my sister (the resident Catra/SPOP canon expert) on basically everything from her inner thoughts to her character voice. So another special thanks goes out to her for that!
> 
> This is set close to a year before Adora's vision of the future/Scorpia's ball.

Under the expansive canopy of floating orbs of magic that were used as lighting in the ballroom, the sea of well-dressed diplomats and high ranking party guests swirled together like waves on the sea, the rainbow of their assorted dresses and suits blurring together into a kaleidoscope of motion and color. It almost felt out of place, the bright and breathless rush of action and cordiality, in a place like this. Though it was only a few hours’ journey away from Bright Moon, the kingdom of Trellion felt worlds away from the by-now familiar bright and whimsical world of the palace and kingdom that Catra had come to call her home. The high ceilings seemed to stretch forever overhead above the softly glowing enchanted lights, and the brash black and red swags and banners that decorated the ornate hall of the main meeting hall’s ballroom were almost reminiscent of The Horde’s stark and admittedly impressive style. 

During and before the war, Trellion had been a military stronghold, and it definitely showed in its sparse and oppressive nature. Now that there was peace, things had changed. The kingdom was under the new direction of the kingdom’s princess, finally having taken back control from The Horde. Now, the bright baubles of magic light bobbed overhead and the warm scattered conversation and laughter that filled the hall was proof of the new direction that Trellion—and all of Etheria—was heading into, had already come so far in. Embracing magic, forming alliances with Bright Moon and beyond…it all served to bring Etheria into a greater state of harmony, and the thrumming of hope bubbled out through the crowd around her, making Catra consider just how entirely different things were, and how different the warm reception she’d gotten from the host at the door tonight was, from the last time she’d been here on a supply run for Hordak when she wasn’t quite high in his favor. 

But did she really need to think about that right now? 

“Stupid party, huh?”

“Catra!” there was laughter in Adora’s voice, but she shoved her lightly, tilting her head back in an effort to suppress the rest of her giggles. “You can’t say stuff like that where people might hear you.” They were off to the side near one of the tables of food that Adora was no doubt eyeing by now, and it was unlikely that anyone was going to hear, but in a way she understood Adora’s concern. There was no way she could know just how adept she was at keeping up appearances in these types of situations when she needed to be.

“Relax, princess. I’ve got this down to a science. _Trust me_.” She added the last bit with an emphasis and a relaxed, measured seductiveness that made a visible shiver run down Adora’s body.

“I do.”

“Good.” Catra gave her girlfriend a brash smile, one pointed fang slipping over her lip. “Now try to relax, okay? You don’t have anything to worry about, so for once just have fun without agonizing over anything, will you? It’s a party. You like parties. So just _relax_.”

Adora chewed on her bottom lip, eyebrows furrowing. “Sure.”

Catra laughed again, shaking her head. Despite Adora’s difficulty when it came to relaxing and letting go, having her around tonight had quite the opposite effect on Catra. She was more than used to this kind of thing by now, of playing the part of the confident and charming diplomat that could smooth over any situation and improve relations with any kingdom. When Glimmer had initially appointed her commander of the Bright Moon military, Catra hadn’t expected events like tonight to be in the job description, but she’d taken to it surprisingly well and surprisingly quickly. By now, visiting other kingdoms to form or improve alliances was so commonplace to her that she barely batted an eye. Still, it felt all the more natural with Adora here. It made it so easy to smile politely at passing party guests, to come across calm and friendly.

Miraculously, it was just by coincidence that Adora was able to be here with her at all. Normally, their jobs—Adora’s as She-ra, Protector of Etheria, and Catra’s as commander of the military—kept them on fairly different professional endeavors. The only situation where they would normally cross paths professionally would be in a time of war, and luckily since the fall of Horde Prime that hadn’t been the case even once. More often than not when Catra was assigned to do a goodwill diplomacy mission, Adora was off on her own adventures, helping to rebuild Etheria both literally, with the great strength she possessed as She-ra, and figuratively with she and Bow’s fairly common missions to help the citizens around Etheria with improving their economies and supply lines. Rebuilding Etheria after the devastation created both by Horde Prime and by The Horde’s long occupation was hard and extensive work, and Catra wondered if it would ever truly be over. Though she could see things steadily improving over the years, it seemed like there was always more to do, and it kept the four of them consistently busy. 

Adora had just happened to be returning from an outing to Airlandia on the morning Catra was leaving to her current mission, and in passing, almost as a joke, Catra had asked her to come along. 

She’d expected Adora to be busy; they generally were at the same time, having their work mostly assigned to them in Alliance meetings by Glimmer, who tried to stagger things so they would have as much of the same free time as possible. Or at the very least coyly take it as a joke and tease her. It wasn’t that she didn’t expect Adora to want to spend time with her at work, but she hadn’t expected her complete unconcealed excitement and her enthusiastic agreement. It was a boring, stuffy diplomatic visit, after all. But then again, they did tend to find a way to have a good time in any situation when they were together. And so here she was, by her side in this capacity for the first time since she’d started going on her solo goodwill missions, and Catra couldn’t believe her luck. 

Six years ago, Catra could never have imagined herself like this. It was with a bit of wonder, as it always was, that the full scope of the current situation washed over her. It wasn’t long ago that she’d been completely unwilling to allow herself to think of the past, but the further the darkness of it stretched behind the sunrise of the present, the more she let her mind go there with a kind of detached impatience. 

Six years ago, Catra had been in a position of great power in The Horde, striving to conquer the very citizens she now had a part in helping. Six years ago, she had been miserable and she’d known nothing but darkness. Here, in the present, she was happy. Undeniably so. She had Adora in her life again, and this time as her girlfriend. She had the amazingly close friendships she’d managed to cultivate and improve with Glimmer, Bow, Scorpia, and even some of the other princesses she hadn’t gotten along with as well when she’d first joined The Rebellion. She had her work, which kept her both extremely busy and helped her blow off steam; using her strategic capabilities in a more constructive way felt not only rewarding, but almost humbling. By now, from her sessions with Perfuma, she’d gained a much better grasp on how to shake away the thoughts and worries that she didn’t deserve all of this. It wasn’t that that seed of darkness wasn’t still there, but by now, she knew how not to cultivate it. 

Adora was doing better too, which made Catra feel unspeakably relieved. Though she still held onto that persistent need to stay on edge at all times—often even in her sleep—she didn’t put quite the amount of pressure on herself she had in the past. Catra could see her starting to slowly let go of the relentless pursuit to be _more_ , to be better, to be _enough_ and it was enough to make her try even harder to get better herself. They were slowly undoing the damage the past had done to them, together, and it felt so absolutely intimate, to see Adora going through this kind of growth, that it made Catra love her even more. 

“You’re staring at me.” Adora’s tone was accusatory, but playful. “Do I have something on my face?” 

“Yeah.” Catra raised an eyebrow, stepping a little closer to her girlfriend. “Right here, it looks like…oh god…it’s…I can’t believe this…you’ve got…a beautiful face.” As she spoke she’d been leaning closer and closer, and she pressed a peck to Adora’s forehead to punctuate the reveal. The other woman dissolved into soft laughter, but her cheeks burned a bright pink. 

“Catra!” she giggled, and the bespoken woman grabbed her hand, placing a kiss there and rolling her eyes. 

“You always act like it’s the first time whenever I do something like that,” she teased playfully. “Like it hasn’t been years. You big idiot.”

“Look who’s talking. You’re the one who still purrs whenever I tell you you look beautiful. You definitely like me.”

“Absolutely not,” Catra argued, falling easily back into their old game as she gave Adora a playful push. “In your _dreams_.” 

“How do you know what happens in my dreams?” Adora asked her, raising an eyebrow at her, and there it was, that ridiculous goofy grin she gave her whenever she was flirting. This barely diminished the effect of the almost sultry tone she pulled on her with that line. “Mind your own business.” She gave Catra a push back, and Catra in turn barely suppressed a characteristic high pitched squeak, retaliating with a shove of her own. Unfortunately for Catra, Adora had upped her game in the last six years and she managed to dodge the hand that Catra flung toward her shoulder. Catra lost her balance just enough to catch her hand on a red-draped table sporting an angry-looking black marble vase.

“Shit,” she gasped as the vase toppled. On a roll with her reflexes apparently, Adora dove for the floor and caught the decoration in the absolutely most undignified manner possible, squatting in a way that could only be described as ungainly with her legs spread out at ridiculous angles despite the fact that she was wearing a dress. There was a look of absolute triumph on her face, and Catra was laughing at her when a voice jarred her from her merriment and reminded her for the first time in quite a few minutes that she and Adora weren’t the only two people in the world.

“Commander Meowmeow,” the voice was vaguely familiar and Catra turned her head to see the striped blue and purple face of what she knew to be the Diplomatic Representative from Haltheca. What was her name, what was her name?

_‘Come on Catra, come on Catra, you can do this, you’re the diplomatic genius commander of Bright Moon who’s done this a thousand times, remember? White ponytail…white ponytail…rhymes with…’_

“Ambassador Celestiana. I didn’t know you’d be here. Good to see you again. How are things in Haltheca?” she was immediately in work mode, like a switch was flipped.

“Much better now that our alliance with Bright Moon is reinstated. My kingdom has been thriving under the support of Bright Moon and its people. We have you to thank for that, of course. I just wanted to stop and say hello and extend my most genuine gratitude from Haltheca to you, Commander Meowmeow.”

“Please, Catra is fine.” Catra insisted with a wave of her hand, hoping that Celestiana would take the hint. Formal titles and surnames felt so strange to Catra that she didn’t even know what to do with them when they were directed toward her, and though of course she treasured the name Adora had given her all those years ago as children, she did have the foresight to understand that ‘Meowmeow’ wasn’t exactly an imposing last name. Adora…oh shit. She turned her head to glance at the other woman, who was climbing awkwardly to her feet, her cheeks blazing red as she placed the vase back on its table. 

“There we go. Good as new. Yep.” Adora declared very seriously, flashing an embarrassed smile in Celestiana’s direction. Catra reached out a hand to her and she took it at lightspeed. Calmly, ignoring the awkward situation her girlfriend had just been in, she placed her arm through the crook of Adora’s, guiding her to her side.

“I’m sorry where are my manners?” Catra drawled in her most polite voice. Six years ago she wouldn’t have been able to imagine such a tone leaving her own lips. “This is Ambassador Celestiana, Haltheca’s highest ranking diplomatic representative.” She gestured to Celestiana and then placed her free hand on Adora’s shoulder as she introduced her in turn. “And this is Adora, my girlfriend.” It came out so casually, and instantly Catra regretted the lack of formality. At her side, Adora gave a small, barely audible squeak, and before Catra could wonder what it was about, Adora was giving a quick bow, just a quick but respectful bend at the waist. Not a curtsy. Never a curtsy. She knew Adora would sooner die than curtsy.

“Nice to meet you,” Adora said earnestly. She was always earnest. Catra noted that her eyes were wet at the corners and the blush on her cheeks had renewed itself with vigor.

“Likewise, of course.” Celestiana’s voice was a deep and booming baritone and she smiled warmly at Adora before returning her bow. “It’s an honor to meet the partner of Commander…Catra.” Catra noted the brief pause as she nearly said ‘Meowmeow’ before she corrected herself. “My kingdom holds her in high esteem.”

“So do I!” Adora agreed a bit too enthusiastically, and Catra’s tail flicked at her back playfully. “I mean…of course! She’s amazing. A…an amazing Commander, I mean, of course!” 

Celestiana tilted her head back and let out a deep booming laugh that made her simple white formal tunic stretch over her broad muscular chest. Catra laughed too, more at Adora’s expense than anything. She could tell her girlfriend was flustered, and she stroked the lower bit of her mostly exposed back with the tip of her tail in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. She could see Adora’s shoulders loosen somewhat. 

“Well, I believe it’s about time for me to make the rounds again. Lovely to see you again, Commander. And a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Adora.” Celestiana bowed again, which Catra and Adora returned. Within moments she had woven her way back into the crowd of mostly political guests. As soon as she was gone, Catra spun to face Adora.

“What was that about?” she asked, her tone dripping with devious intent as she backed Adora into the vase table. Pointedly, Adora pushed her way away from the dangerous piece of furniture and crossed her arms. 

“What do you mean?”

“When I introduced you, you _squeaked_. You got so _flustered_. What was that about, hmm?” Catra licked her lips, and Adora looked away from her and then back. She was smiling warmly. 

“Well it’s just…I’ve never really been uh…introduced that way before? Not in this kind of setting, I mean.”

“Huh?”

“I mean…” Adora shifted her weight from one foot to the other, reaching up to tug at her ponytail and then apparently realizing she’d worn her hair loose—something she’d been making more of a habit of now that her hair was longer—and letting her hand fall back to her side. “When I meet with people, when I’m doing my work to help Etheria, I always introduce myself as She-ra. Something like that. That’s how I usually get introduced, too. I mean you know. Sometimes Bow introduces us. And when there are parties in Bright Moon, when there are formal introductions it’s… Adora/She-ra, Protector of Etheria, Princess of Power, whatever’s right for the occasion. But back there you um…”

“Yes?” Catra smiled encouragingly at her, raising her eyebrow. 

“As just…Adora. Your girlfriend. It made me…happy.” 

Catra’s chest flooded with warmth and she instinctively reached for her, pressing their foreheads together. Adora wasn’t always the best at communicating or even understanding her own feelings, so Catra always tried to facilitate conversations like this. “Dork. It made you happy, huh? Tell me all about it.” 

“Well I guess…heh. I guess it’s just. It made me realize that I’ve never really felt like that. Tonight I’m…not here as She-ra, as ‘Protector of Etheria’ or as somebody who anyone has any expectations for. I’m just here as…yours.”

“I like the sound of that.” Catra purred a bit, nipping lightly at Adora’s ear before moving back to squish her forehead against hers again. Adora laughed, and it was clear she was more at ease now. 

“Usually, it’s only when we’re alone that that’s all I am. Usually, around other people I have all these…responsibilities and expectations. So much I have to be and to…live up to.” Catra could feel her going down an old road that she didn’t like, and she twined her arms around her and squeezed her tight.

“Uh-uh,” she chided gently, and Adora nodded. 

“I don’t mean like…that. I mean that I have a responsibility to Etheria. It’s my job, and I’m glad to be a part of something so good. Rebuilding. Protecting my home. All of that, and everything that comes with being She-ra, those are the parts of me that the world needs and I have a responsibility to live up to those expectations in a…um…healthy way.”

“Right.”

“But when you said that it felt like that wasn’t who I was, for now. For tonight. I didn’t really realize before, but…I’m really not here as She-ra. I doubt anyone in this room would even recognize me in this form. I’m just here as me. As your date. And I don’t have to…do anything.”

Catra laughed very genuinely, nuzzling her nose against hers. “That’s what I was telling you earlier. You just _now_ realized that? Look, dummy, you’re here to have fun with me while I keep up appearances and schmooze a bunch of boring political and military types. None of this is your job. This is my world and I’m bringing you with me. You can _relax_. Have _fun_.” 

Catra could almost feel Adora struggling to take her words to heart and relax, but it was a losing battle and they both knew it. Sometimes Catra wished it was easier for her girlfriend to let go, to calm down and just breathe, just relax and unwind, but she knew this was Adora doing her best, and she loved her for it. 

“I’m sorry Catra, I know I’m not very…”

“None of that, whatever it is.” Catra waved her words away with a flick of her tail. She stepped back a little and took the blonde’s cheek in her hand, caressing her thumb against the line of her cheekbone. Adora closed her eyes, and Catra smiled smugly when she truly did sense her form relaxing a bit. “You’re doing fine. You don’t have to do _anything_. You just need to stay here with me and let the night happen. You have absolutely no expectations, no job to do, no ‘Princess of Power’ or any of that. You’re here as Adora. _My_ Adora. You don’t have to relax, you don’t have to try to do anything. Just let the night happen and let me _take care of you_.”

Adora’s eyes opened, and they were staring directly into Catra’s. For a long moment there was silence, and then Adora pressed her cheek closer into Catra’s hand, the look she was giving her so tender that even after six years of being together it was enough to make her knees weak. Shit. 

“Okay,” Adora replied, her voice barely above a whisper. If it weren’t for Catra’s enhanced hearing the word might have gotten lost in the din of the party chatter, but she heard her loud and clear. The two of them just stared at each other for a long, breathless expanse of quiet. In that moment, Adora looked more beautiful than she had ever seen her. It seemed to Catra that all the little quiet moments of their years together had added up more and more to her becoming more beautiful, and there were moments like this when it was enough to take her breath away, to render her humbled and silent. 

Adora was someone who, upon meeting her, tended to come across as fairly bumbling and overly serious and maybe a bit naïve. Catra wasn’t charitable enough not to admit that. But there was a warm invisible glow that seemed to emanate from her, something that had absolutely nothing to do with her being She-ra, the glimmering princess of strength and hope that the blonde in front of her drew nearly all of her confidence and self-worth from, even now. It was something magnetic that had drawn Catra to her from the time she was a tiny scared kitten that Adora found hiding in a box in the Fright Zone and gave her a name and a pair of arms that she would call home for the rest of her life. There was always a breathless, impatient quality to her very presence that was enough to keep Catra running to catch up to her over and over until finally they were at the same pace. Adora was nothing short of divine to her and always had been, though she had never been able to express that in her own clumsy words and actions. But she hoped against hope that at times like this, when she pressed her lips to hers with an urgency that ignored the crowds of people in the room with them, that she could feel something like that, that she could somehow sense the incredible reverence that she held for her.

Adora kissed her back, one of her hands closing around the front of Catra’s deep red suit jacket. She wore it open, and Adora’s hand found the loose, low-necked white blouse she wore underneath and latched onto that with the other hand. The intensity in their joined lips almost made Catra wonder if Adora had read her thoughts a moment before, though she knew that was impossible. Their lips fit together so perfectly, so naturally, that Catra wondered if this could really been the only lifetime that their lips had found each other. Normally, she didn’t let herself think such sentimental things, but it was easy to get carried away when she was kissing the love of her life. 

On that day beside the Heart of Etheria, when she had pressed her lips to Adora’s for the first and what she thought would be the last time, they had both been trembling and there was a breathless but awkward uncertainty in their joined lips that had stayed together for almost too long to be innocent but definitely not long enough. Catra had been absolutely floored by the experience, her emotions so mixed and so intense that it was difficult to think or even breathe. Something of that moment lingered here in their kiss, only the most recent of probably millions by now, the intensity of her emotions blinding her enough that her knees felt close to buckling. It never got any easier, to keep her wits about her when their lips touched. It hadn’t been just a case of first kiss nerves; a love and a kiss that had the power to unleash the Heart of Etheria and save the entire universe wasn’t one that could be settled into easily. It was one that continued to burn so blindingly bright that it was almost too much to handle, even now.

“I love you,” Adora whispered, her lips barely parted from Catra’s enough to speak, and Catra’s heart felt like it was going to burst. Her breath caught in her throat. 

“I love you too,” Catra replied, pressing a quick light kiss back to Adora’s lips before releasing her, unwilling to trust herself not to absolutely make a scene if her mouth stayed against her girlfriend for much longer. Adora swayed a little, and it was clear she was just as affected as Catra was. It never got any easier. Adora had a ridiculous, blissed out grin on her face and Catra could feel the smuggest of all possible smiles slide onto her own. 

For a moment as the stillness between them continued to stretch she just allowed herself to take in the sight of the woman who allowed her to call her hers. Adora was wearing a simple red dress tonight that looked dangerously close to the first dress Catra had ever seen her in all those years ago, but it was long and flowing and gathered at the waist with a curved gold belt that was, amusingly, reminiscent of She-ra’s outfit. The shoulders of the dress followed the same theme, gold and glinting proudly in the enchanted lights of the ballroom, so very evocative of the princess that was a part of the girl in front of her, tapering into a low red and gold cape that hung low to accommodate the backless dress. It was a little more modest that Catra would have chosen for her, _honestly_ , but that was just pure selfish desire to see more of her girlfriend, of course. Luckily red was a color that they both favored, so Catra’s simple yet—what she hoped was—regal outfit matched the dress perfectly. The gold stripe down both sides of her plain high-waisted breeches just served to further compliment the match. Anyone who saw them would never know they didn’t plan this, that it was just simple good fortune and coincidence that brought them here together tonight. 

“You’re staring again,” Adora told her amusingly, and Catra purred softly in reply, her eyes raking up and down Adora’s body again in a way that made her visibly shiver, though she was smiling. 

“Do you mind, _princess_?” she whispered to her, her voice nauseatingly saccharine with a tinge of irony and seduction, and Adora laughed inelegantly, quirking an eyebrow at her. On a good night, using that tone on her would send her into being a blushing mess, but unfortunately Adora was a woman of duality and instead she stood with one hand cockily on her hip, looking every bit the girl who knew a battlefield far better than she knew a ballroom. 

“Not if you don’t,” the princess told her pointedly, and Catra laughed too, her laugh sharper and higher than her girlfriend’s. She reached out and grabbed the blonde’s hand.

“Come on. Come with me. It’ll be fun.”

“What are we doing?”

“It’ll be fun,” the repeat was the only answer Catra gave. 

Over the next twenty minutes, Catra made the rounds. She took Adora to the various spreads of food and they ate a myriad of local Trellion delicacies, something that made Adora light up visibly. Catra made sure to keep them toward the middle of the room, never straying too close to the shadowed, more isolated areas of the room that she would normally much rather favor when she was leading someone that she wanted so badly to lavish with affection on her arm. And just as she hoped, many diplomatic representatives, some Commanders like herself, some Ambassadors and even some actual Princesses who had chosen to represent themselves rather than sending representatives—Catra couldn’t imagine how dull a kingdom would have to be for the ruler to have that kind of time—caught her attention and waved her over. And every time, she had the same line.

“Oh, and this is Adora, my girlfriend.”

She could tell that Adora was absolutely eating it up. Being introduced that way, _shown off_ …it wasn’t something that she would have guessed would please Adora so much, but then again she had always been the one person who could surprise her consistently. She made sure to stop at every table of food that Adora showed even the slightest bit of interest in, and Catra insisted on serving the food _for_ her. As the night wore on, she upped the ante a bit.

“This is Adora, my _lover_.”

That one really made Adora shiver, and she could feel Adora’s eyes silently pleading when she glanced into them after that one. She kept with that. _Lover_. It seemed like the intimacy of the word got under her skin even more than ‘girlfriend’. By the time Adora absolutely couldn’t eat another bite—‘well maybe just one’—she was positively glowing and Catra felt as smug as she’d ever felt in her life. 

“You’re really good at this,” Adora remarked as they found their way naturally onto the dance floor. “All this uh…you know. Diplomatic stuff. I’ve never seen you in action before.”

“What did I tell you?” Catra purred, drawing her waist a little closer as they settled into a comfortable waltz. “This is my world. This is like my version of She-ra. A whole-ass transformation. Polite, well-behaved Catra.”

Adora laughed, so genuinely and with such gusto that she threw her head back and snorted. “Polite. I never could have imagined it in a thousand years if I hadn’t seen it myself. Catra, well-behaved? Please.” 

Catra pouted an exaggerated pout. “I’m hurt, Adora. Haven’t I always been so _good_ for you?” 

Adora laughed again, such genuine mirth in her eyes that there were tears forming. “Of course you have. I am so sorry.” She didn’t sound sorry. Catra dipped her low without warning, earning a shriek from the blonde and making Catra cackle high and raspy. 

“I’ll make you sorry, _princess_ ,” she whispered, and Adora gave her a determined smile, her brows knitted.

“Are you threatening me, _Commander_?” she whispered back, and for a moment Catra recalled the first time they had danced like this, at the Princess Prom, recalled the irritation, impatience, and frustration in Adora’s expression as Catra pressed her body close, far too close, to hers. Back then it had been a struggle to remain impassive, to serve as a distraction, taking all of Adora’s attention with ulterior motives without letting herself admit even internally that she _wanted_ her attention, that she wanted her to be the only in the world that Adora looked at. And now she was. For a brief, evanescent moment Catra hung in between the present and the past, absolutely stunned that Adora was hers all over again, absolutely floored that Catra was the only person that she was interested in, the only one she loved, the one she wanted to spend her life with.

And then she was back in the present and she was spinning Adora around under her arm and Adora was laughing brightly, warmly, like none of the pain or darkness of the past had ever happened, like it could never touch them again, like they existed in a bright and incandescent world that was purely their own and there would never be an outside reach to ever touch the happiness they found in each other again.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Adora~” she answered easily, tightening her grip on her lover’s hand as she gave her what was probably a ridiculously sappy look, so overflowing with the kind of emotions she’d grappled with for so long but that she was now allowed to fully feel and express. There was a kind of catharsis, again and again, in taking Adora’s face in her hands and kissing her like it was the first time every time. She found absolute peace in the way that Adora melted so easily into the gesture of affection even with this many people around, the way her hands found purchase on the gold-embroidered lapels of her coat and tugged at them desperately, pulling her closer. Too close. Dangerously close. Catra grinned into the kiss.

“Let’s get out of here,” she purred, and Adora nodded feverishly.

There was a wide marble balcony on the far side of the ballroom, leading out into the warm air of the Etherian summer night. On the horizon, there were bright glimmers of magic from distant kingdoms, more and more people embracing magic wholly now that the Heart had been released. Catra dimly wondered if one of those bright beacons was Bright Moon, but she didn’t have long to ponder over the beauty of the twinkling night and the canvas of stars that covered them like a diamond chandelier before Adora had kissed her, working her back against the railing of the balcony as her mouth pressed and melded into hers with enough desperation that like the first kiss, it seemed it was her only hope for survival. 

Catra melted into it easily, letting Adora’s hands touch her, one caressing her back and the other mussing with Catra’s careless, sloppy ponytail. Adora seemed almost frenzied, her lips parting hungrily and grappling with Catra’s in a way that made her heart sore and her stomach fill with a blazing heat. There was something on her mind, clearly, and as eager as she was to hear what it was, she was far more eager to enjoy the taste of her lover’s mouth for as long as she would let her. Adora was fired up, that much was clear, but she wasn’t hurried or impatient in her attention. She kissed her slowly, almost painfully so, brushing her tongue against Catra’s with a heated, needy but restrained singlemindedness that drove her insane. She pressed her hips against Adora’s and felt her keen into her mouth, palming a fistful of her shirt over her chest but not _touching_ her chest, holding back just enough that Catra knew they weren’t going to get themselves banned from future diplomatic events. However, if they did, she had a suspicion that it would be worth it. Catra ground her hips against Adora’s just once, just enough to make the girl who was pressed into her whimper.

Adora’s kissing slowed, grew less passionate slowly, in tiny increments, until she was pressing chaste kisses to Catra’s lips over and over and she was drinking them in like they were the last thing she would ever taste. She kissed her that way until their breathing slowed, until they were both smiling at each other languidly, almost drunkenly in between pecks. Catra’s eyes were half lidded and she was dimly aware that she was purring enthusiastically. There was a long, comfortable silence where they simply stared raptly at each other, the sounds of the party inside filtered out enough to be white noise and the soft chirping of crickets far down on the ground below accompanying their slowing breathing. Above them, that crystalline carpet of stars that had been gone for so long seemed to shine all that much brighter just for them.

“Something on your mind?” Catra purred softly, and Adora foofed the fringe of fluff along Catra’s jawbone.

“Yeah,” she said simply, and for a beat there was silence, and it stretched out a little too long, but Catra didn’t care. “Catra I…tonight has been so nice. Feeling…like being yours was all I had to do. Like being…yours was my only responsibility, and having you…show off that I was yours all night like this. It’s been…so nice.”

“I’m glad,” Catra replied quietly, smiling warmly at her as she searched her eyes for more.

“It made me realize something. Being She-ra is important to me. And protecting Etheria means so much. Those jobs…those titles…they mean a lot to me. They’re a part of who I am. An important part. But tonight, I got the chance to be so selfish. More than I’ve ever really let happen. And it made me understand that…Catra’s girlfriend…Catra’s lover…that title means…so much more to me than anything else ever could.”

Catra was briefly stunned into not even being able to reply. “Adora…” was the only thing she could muster. 

“I’m not good at being selfish. I don’t always feel comfortable letting myself want things, or letting myself acknowledge that my private self is like…well. It’s something that has to be important too, and it’s something I wanna nurture too, you know? Gosh I feel like I’m…making some kind of speech.”

“It’s okay, Adora.”

“I appreciate being able to be your girlfriend…your lover. I appreciate that so much. It’s something I never thought was possible, but you’ve given me a future I never could have dreamed of when I didn’t think I had one at all. But I _am_ selfish. And I want more.”

Catra’s heartbeat was deafening in her ears, and she felt all at once thrilled and calm, just gazing at Adora with half-lidded, love-drunk eyes as she struggled to express herself in that earnest and clumsy way that only Adora could. 

“Adora…are you…?”

Adora gave her the softest smile she had ever received, and it was with that image in her mind and vision that she heard the words she hadn’t realized she’d been waiting for until Adora said them. “I want to be your wife.”

There was an absolute silence between them for a moment, and then Catra grinned, a lump in her throat and wetness in her eyes even as she tried her best to remain lighthearted. “Are you asking me to marry you, you dope?”

Adora nodded. “I sure am. What do you say? Marry me?” Adora’s shaking fingers pressed something into her hand, and Catra felt the cold sting of metal. When she looked down, the gold wing pin that Adora always wore somewhere on her person was resting in her palm. When had she even taken it off? Desperately, Catra closed her hand around it, nodding with a certainty that made the front fringe of her hair bounce. 

“You’re such an idiot. Of course I will. You don’t even have to ask me.” 

“Catra…” Adora’s eyes spilled over with tears, but she was grinning, and Catra moved in to kiss her to distract herself from how wet her own eyes were. They stood like that, encircled in each other’s arms, as the world continued to move around them, completely independent of the two people who stood still and close kissing each other and gazing at each other as they nuzzled each other and giggled and whispered to each other about whatever it was that lovers whispered about. Adora tenderly affixed the pin to the front of Catra’s jacket for her, and Catra only stopped kissing her for just long enough for her to let her get it into place before she pulled her in to get lost in her all over again. 

The party inside was forgotten. Catra forgot to keep up appearances and continue to make the rounds. Adora forgot about feeling guilty for keeping Catra away from her duties. They just stayed that way, tumultuous and calm, selfish and giving, fractured and complete in the form of two hearts that had reached for each other since the first moment they connected decades ago. The night dwindled on, the sun started to paint the horizon, and when they at long last departed for home, tired and giddy and wrapped up in each other, the fire they lit six years ago burned brighter than ever before. 

Lifetimes, centuries, millennia...they would never do anything to extinguish it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it <3 I'm not as confident about this fic as I could be, so hopefully there weren't too many errors!
> 
> Not to self-promote too much, but if you're a fan of my mediocre illustration skills I have a webcomic! It's nothing like SPOP unfortunately but it's about a bunch of LGBT+ friends trying to solve a mystery that might rip the universe apart. You can read it [here](https://tapas.io/series/TheBowandtheBee/info) if you're interested!


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